David Boudia watched his first Olympic games in 1996 when he was 7. He vividly remembers his excited family gathering in front of the television. Boudia was already a talented gymnast thriving in competitions and seeing the U.S. athletes march in the opening ceremony filled him with awe.

Even more dramatic was watching the U.S. gymnastic team, the Magnificent Seven. The image of Kerri Strug suffering after her painful ankle injury from the first vault and then hobbling off the mat stayed with him. At her second attempt, she looked at her coach, Bela Karolyi, who famously repeated “You can do it. You can do it.” ”I’ll never forget Karolyi carrying Strug up to the podium and the look of joy on their faces,” says Boudia. “Watching the Magnificent Seven win that medal stoked my competitive fires. Competing in the Olympics became my focus, my inspiration, my dream, my god. I was going to be an Olympian.”

By 2000, when a close family friend won diving lessons in an auction, Boudia was invited to join. He had already loved swimming and discovered that diving was as thrilling as gymnastics. “I got to flip through the air…and be acrobatic. In essence, diving was gymnastics over water… I was now landing on my head instead of on my feet,” says Boudia. “I loved the thrill that came with the free fall and the adrenaline that surged through my body when I flipped through the air.”

Boudia began taking diving lessons and competing. He practiced five or six days a week at a pool in Indianapolis about an hour drive from home. With a powerful drive to win, he ultimately advanced to nationals. By 2004, at 15, he qualified for the Olympic Trials. Although he didn’t make the team, he came close.

From that point, he knew the 2008 Olympics were within his grasp. Boudia won first place in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. He was heading to Beijing. However, at the Olympics he finished in tenth place overall (5th place individually) and was devastated. Determined to do better, he went to Purdue University and continued to compete in diving.

Boudia began winning again. He regularly won Big Ten Diver of the Week, swept all the diving events and became USA Diving Athlete of the Year. But he was also miserable. “Because the Olympics were my dream for so long, I put everything I had and was so focused on the destination of making them,” he explains. “My life was all about going toward winning the gold medal which I thought would bring me happiness. But when I reached that pinnacle, it proved to be hollow because I was always longing for something more.” Feeling empty and hopeless, he drank often and also smoked.

Hitting rock bottom Boudia finally cried out for help. “I had gotten to a point where I thought if this is all that this life has to offer than I don’t really want to be in this life.” he says. He texted one of his teammates who thankfully encouraged Boudia to share his feelings with his coach Adam Soldati.

In his passionately candid new memoir Greater than Gold: From Olympic Heartbreak to Ultimate Redemption, (Nelson Books), Boudia describes how Soldati and his wife Kimiko inspired and led him to his faith. “I had been constantly feeding what I call my “me monster,” Boudia shares. “But I discovered that’s not my life’s purpose. I came to an awakening that this life isn’t about me. It’s about loving God and loving others around me.”

In Greater than Gold which chronicles Boudia’s journey, his dream is to inspire people who are facing their own challenges. “People struggle constantly, but they don’t have to mask it,” he says. “I found that hope was through my faith. That’s how I learned to be real with myself and then change. And I want to provide people with hope when they’re struggling in their day-to day life.”

With a new sense of focus and deep core values, he competed in the 2012 Olympics. The outcome was entirely different from the 2008 experience. But it wasn’t just because he won the gold medal for the men’s individual 10-meter (along with the bronze medal for the men’s synchronized 10-meter.) So much in him had changed. “The 2008 Olympics were all about a destination to be conquered. But the 2012 Olympics became more about the journey,” he explains. “I focused on the process: taking baby steps, valuing the day-to-day and enjoying it more instead of being overwhelmed with what I could get at the end of it.”

Accepting his gold medal at the 2012 Olympics Boudia stepped onto the podium a transformed man. “I saw the flag being raised and had an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness — knowing that it wasn’t me alone that got to this point,” he says. “I wasn’t the only one standing up on this platform. It was my coach, who put in the hours, my parents and my fiancé, who is now my wife, who made sacrifices. There are dietitians, massage therapists. So many people play a big role in my winning.”

Boudia competes in Rio at his third Olympic games. “I’m ready to really enjoy this experience with my family, which is something I haven’t been able to do the past two Olympics,” says Boudia who has a daughter with his wife. Even with his hectic schedule and all his obligations, he has a deep sense of what’s most important to him. As he explains, “there’s so much more joy when you share this with your family.”